Alcohol's effects on requisites for sexual risk reduction in men: An initial experimental investigation.

The effects of alcohol intoxication on mediators of condom use were examined in a laboratory-based experiment. Twenty men were randomly assigned to either an alcohol or a nonalcohol beverage administration condition. Participants in the experimental condition drank vodka and tonic to achieve a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, whereas controls drank tonic only. All participants then completed a battery of measures related to condom and AIDS-related knowledge, motivation to use condoms, and behavioral self-efficacy regarding condom use. Findings from this exploration study, which should be considered preliminary because of the small sample size, indicated that participants who received alcohol tended to report more negative attitudes toward condoms and lower self-efficacy to initiate condom use than controls. AIDS knowledge, appraisal of social norms regarding condom use, and perceived risk of infection were unaffected by alcohol consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a drinking event on behavioral skills and condom attitudes in men: Implications for HIV risk from a controlled experiment.

This study experimentally tested the effects of a drinking event on HIV-related behavioral skills and condom attitudes. Sixty unmarried, heterosexual men were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions (sober, placebo, or alcohol). Participants who consumed alcohol demonstrated lower skill to negotiate for condom use relative to sober controls. More negative condom attitudes were expressed by participants with stronger sex-related alcohol expectancies, especially when these expectancies were triggered by subjective intoxication. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the experimental factors accounted for variance in behavioral skills and condom attitudes beyond that explained by known predictors of sexual risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social anxiety and alcohol expectancies on stress-induced drinking.

The utility of trait social anxiety and alcohol expectancies in predicting increased alcohol consumption under socially stressful conditions was investigated. Forty-two male and 42 female undergraduates participated in a 2-day study, serving as their own controls. In each session, participants consumed their preferred alcoholic beverage during a 30-min drinking period. The lst session established baseline consumption under nonstressful conditions, while in the 2nd session, participants drank while anticipating the required delivery of a speech. Measures of social anxiety and alcohol expectancies were completed. Participants consumed more absolute alcohol during the stressful session, but those with high trait social anxiety and men expecting alcohol to increase assertiveness were most likely to show this effect. These findings suggest specificity in the connection between individual characteristics and stress-induced drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The influence of gender, expectancy, and partner beverage selection on (meta)perceptions in a "blind" dating situation

There is little question that alcohol plays a role in social situations. Most of the research in this area has used a paradigm designed to understand the effects of consuming alcohol on anxiety and social behavior. Most of the previous studies have looked only at situational factors-with limited focus on personality variables, using confederates to control the social reaction that participants received, with drinking generally occurring in a solitary situation. In the present study we were interested in understanding the interpersonal nature of reactions to alcohol consumption. The focus of this study was on the stimulus value of alcohol rather than anticipated or pharmacological effects of alcohol consumption. In large groups, individuals completed cognitive-personality measures assessing typical alcohol consumption, alcohol expectancies, and social anxiety. In the second part of the study, participants were paired with a member of the opposite sex with whom they had no previous contact: perceptions of their partner and metaperceptions were assessed after 4 and 15 minutes (before and after choosing a beverage--beer, soft drinks, etc.). Results indicate that positive alcohol expectancies interact with partner alcohol selection in predicting changes in metaperceptions of friendliness and relaxation. With friendliness, this result was most pronounced in men. These results are discussed in terms of the role alcohol expectancies may play in filtering alcohol relevant environmental information, and the influence of positive alcohol expectancies in mixed-sex drinking situations.     

Cognitive mediation of alcohol's effects on women's in-the-moment sexual decision making.

Objective: To test a cognitive mediation model examining whether cognitive appraisals mediate alcohol consumption effects on condom request and unprotected sex intentions. Design: Female social drinkers (N = 173) participated in an experiment comparing four beverage conditions: control, placebo, target BAL = .04%, and target BAL = .08%. Subjects projected themselves into a hypothetical sexual encounter with a new sex partner. Measures: Appraisals of the situation's sexual potential, impelling and inhibiting cognitions, and behavioral intentions were assessed at several points. Results: Findings support the theoretical model, indicating that alcohol's effects on direct condom request and unprotected sex intentions were mediated through cognitive appraisals. Conclusion: Prevention interventions should include information about alcohol's effects on cognitions that may lead to ineffective condom negotiation and unprotected sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influences of sexual sensation seeking, alcohol consumption, and sexual arousal on women's behavioral intentions related to having unprotected sex.

This experimental study examined effects of alcohol consumption and sexual sensation seeking on unprotected sex intentions, taking into account sexual arousal, indirectly discouraging sex, and condom insistence. Women (N = 173; mean age = 25.02) were randomly assigned to a control, placebo, low-dose beverage (target blood alcohol level = .04), or high- dose beverage (target blood alcohol level = .08) condition. Participants projected themselves into a hypothetical sexual interaction with a man in which no condom was available. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that both sexual sensation seeking and alcohol dose directly increased sexual arousal early in the interaction, but later sexual arousal indirectly increased unprotected sex intentions by decreasing endorsement of indirect discouragement and, in turn, condom insistence. These findings help to clarify the role of alcohol consumption and sensation seeking in women's sexual decision making and point to the importance of examining it as a multistage process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol and the balanced-placebo design: The role of experimenter demands in expectancy.

Tested the hypothesis that Ss who were debriefed so that experimenter demands were withdrawn would report beverage content and level of intoxication more accurately than Ss treated as usual in a balanced-placebo experiment. 48 male university students were randomly assigned to 1 of the 4 usual groups: told alcohol/received alcohol (.79 ml/kg), told alcohol/received no alcohol, told no alcohol/received alcohol, and told no alcohol/received no alcohol. Ss were told that the data file containing their actual group allocation and previous reports was lost owing to computer breakdown, and thus the experiment did not know which beverage they had drunk. The initial manipulation check revealed a greater effect of expectancy, but the later check revealed a larger effect of drink content. Only 8 of 24 Ss were successfully deceived. Conclusions derived from past studies and the use of the balanced-placebo design in the area of alcohol and expectancies are challenged, although the challenge may be restricted to the use of the design with relatively high doses of alcohol. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforcement value of unsafe sex as a predictor of condom use and continued HIV/AIDS risk behavior among gay and bisexual men.

The pleasure or reinforcement value of high-risk sex may be an important influence on success in risk reduction efforts. Seronegative gay and bisexual men (N?=?297) completed measures assessing their unprotected and safer sex practices, as well as measures of cognitive and skill factors and a measure assessing the subjective reinforcement value of unprotected anal intercourse. Regression analyses showed that the reinforcement value of unprotected anal intercourse accounted for variance in predicting levels of condom use above that that could be accounted for by factors such as knowledge, behavior change intentions, perceived vulnerability, condom attitudes, and sexual communication skills. Only reinforcement value of unprotected sex and substance use significantly predicted how frequently participants engaged in high-risk sex. Increased attention to the valence of sexual reinforcers will improve HIV risk reduction models and enhance AIDS prevention efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol use and serial monogamy as risks for sexually transmitted diseases in young adults.

Alcohol and condom use were assessed using global, situational, and event-level analyses in a sample of young adults (N=305). Results varied by methodology, event, and partner type; an inverse association between alcohol and condom use was found only at the event level. Participants with strong sex-related expectancies used condoms less frequently when drinking at the time of 1st intercourse with their current partner. For most recent event with a regular partner, alcohol use was unrelated to condom use, but gender, relationship duration, and oral contraceptive use accounted for more than 25% of the variance. Thus, alcohol may increase risky sex early in a relationship, whereas partner familiarity and alternate contraceptive use play a larger role as relationships develop. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation, alcohol consumption and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior among African American women

The present study examined the relationship between acculturation, alcohol consumption and AIDS-related risky sexual behavior in a national probability sample of 533 African American women. Results indicated that women who were the heaviest drinkers were also the least acculturated. However, women most likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, including having multiple partners, being nonmonogamous or in a nonmonogamous relationship, and being nonmonogamous or in a nonmonogamous relationship and not using a condom consistently, were high in acculturation rather than low. Alcohol use proved related to risky sexual behavior when considered in conjunction with respondents' level of acculturation. Women at risk for contracting AIDS were not low acculturated African American women who drank heavily, but high acculturated African American women. Findings from this study extend our understanding of risk and contain implications for research and prevention efforts in the area of alcohol use and AIDS-related sexual behavior among African American women.     

Alcohol primes, expectancies, and the working self-concept.

Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can lead to momentary changes in the self-concept (e.g., Steele & Josephs, 1990). In two studies (n = 150), we examined whether the implicit activation of alcohol expectancies (i.e., sociability-related expectancies) would also lead to changes in self-perception. To test this idea, participants first completed a measure of sociability-related alcohol expectancies. In a subsequent laboratory session, participants were exposed to either alcohol-related primes (i.e., pictures or words associated with alcohol) or neutral primes. After the priming task, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated self-concept survey that contained words related to sociability (e.g., “outgoing”) and nonsociability related words (e.g., “clever”). For both studies, results revealed that sociability-related alcohol expectancies were positively associated with sociability-related self-concept ratings for participants exposed to alcohol primes, but not for participants exposed to the neutral primes. Implications for the role implicit self-concept activation may have on drinking behaviors are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using a modified Stroop task to implicitly discern the cognitive organization of alcohol expectancies.

Alcohol expectancies have been statistically modeled as memory networks that influence future consumption. To test the organization of expectancies suggested by these models, a modified Stroop color-naming task incorporated expectancy words associated in past research with heavy and light drinking. Light and heavy drinkers ink-named expectancy targets after being cued with an alcohol beverage word or a nonalcohol beverage word. Consistent with predictions derived from statistical models, heavy drinkers displayed significant interference when arousing expectancy words had been primed by an alcohol beverage word, whereas light drinkers displayed significant interference when sedating expectancy targets had been so primed. These results reinforce the idea that mediation of alcohol use by expectancies may be implicit as well as explicit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender, Alcohol Consumption, and Differing Alcohol Expectancy Dimensions in College Drinkers.

Examinations of gender differences in alcohol expectancies among college drinkers typically have used self-report measures to assess single expectancy dimensions and often have been confounded by drinking level. This study examined gender differences in alcohol expectancies using 2 assessment methods. College students (N = 88) completed self-report questionnaires, including expectancy likelihood and subjective evaluation endorsements of expectancies, and a computerized expectancy accessibility task. Expectancy accessibility and endorsement were modestly correlated, with higher alcohol consumption and female gender linked to greater accessibility and endorsement of social enhancement expectancies. Gender moderated the relation between consumption and sociability expectancy accessibility; among men, heavier drinking was associated with more rapid activation of expectancies. Findings suggest complexity in associations among these variables and underscore the need to capture the multidimensionality of the expectancy construct and its relationship to alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Persuasive communications to change actions: An analysis of behavioral and cognitive impact in HIV prevention.

This meta-analysis examined the validity of various theoretical assumptions about cognitive and behavioral change following a communication recommending condom use. The synthesis comprised 82 treatment and 29 control groups included in 46 longitudinal reports with measures of perceived severity and susceptibility, attitudes and expectancies, norms, perceptions of control, intentions, knowledge, behavioral skills, or condom use. Results indicated that across the sample of studies, communications taught recipients about facts related to HIV and also induced favorable attitudes and expectancies, greater control perceptions, and stronger intentions to use condoms in the future. Moreover, messages that presented attitudinal information and modeled behavioral skills led to increased condom use. Results are discussed in the context of theories of human behavior and change and in reference to HIV-prevention interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expecting innovation: Psychoactive drug primes and the generation of creative solutions.

Many individuals expect that alcohol and drug consumption will enhance creativity. The present studies tested whether substance related primes would influence creative performance for individuals who possessed creativity-related substance expectancies. Participants (n = 566) were briefly exposed to stimuli related to psychoactive substances (alcohol, for Study 1, Sample 1, and Study 2; and marijuana, for Study 1, Sample 2) or neutral stimuli. Participants in Study 1 then completed a creative problem-solving task, while participants in Study 2 completed a divergent thinking task or a task unrelated to creative problem solving. The results of Study 1 revealed that exposure to the experimental stimuli enhanced performance on the creative problem-solving task for those who expected the corresponding substance would trigger creative functioning. In a conceptual replication, Study 2 showed that participants exposed to alcohol cues performed better on a divergent thinking task if they expected alcohol to enhance creativity. It is important to note that this same interaction did not influence performance on measures unrelated to creative problem solving, suggesting that the activation of creativity-related expectancies influenced creative performance, specifically. These findings highlight the importance of assessing expectancies when examining pharmacological effects of alcohol and marijuana. Future directions and implications for substance-related interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol expectancy priming and drinking behavior: The role of compatibility between prime and expectancy content.

According to information-processing models of alcohol use, alcohol expectancies constitute representations in long-term memory that may be activated in the presence of drinking-related cues, thereby influencing alcohol consumption. A fundamental implication of this approach is that primed expectancies should affect drinking only for those individuals who possess the specific expectancies primed. To test this notion, in the present study, participants were initially assessed on 3 distinct domains of positive alcohol expectancies. Approximately 1 week later, they completed an ad libitum drinking study during which only a single expectancy domain (sociability) was primed in the experimental condition. Consistent with predictions, following exposure to sociability primes but not control primes, individuals with stronger expectancies that alcohol would enhance sociability uniquely showed increased placebo consumption of nonalcoholic beer. These results, which demonstrate the moderating role of compatibility between the specific content of primes and that of underlying expectancies, offer new, direct support for memory network-based models of drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving condom use intentions and behavior by changing perceived partner norms: An evaluation of condom promotion videos for college students.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of 2 condom promotion videotapes on self-efficacy, intentions, and behavior. Design: Two hundred twenty college students completed social-cognitive and behavioral measures and were then randomly assigned to receive one of two 30-min condom promotion videotapes (male or female student presenters) or to a wait-list control condition. Participants who watched 1 of the videotapes completed immediate posttest measures, and 85% of participants completed a 4-month follow-up. Main Outcome Measures: Self-efficacy for condom use, intentions to use condoms, use of condom during last sex, and consistent condom use over the last month. Results: Participants who received either video reported greater self-efficacy to refuse to have unprotected sex and intentions than controls at follow-up. Individuals who received either video were more likely than controls to report using a condom during last sex with a regular partner, and those who watched the female presenter were more likely to report consistent condom use. Conclusion: Participants benefited in terms of self-efficacy and intentions from receiving either video, but both men and women benefited more in terms of condom use behavior from receiving the female video. Future research is needed to determine whether opposite-sex speaker videos could be beneficial with a larger (and more sexually active) sample and whether these effects are maintained over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does drinking lead to sex? Daily alcohol–sex behaviors and expectancies among college students.

A within-person multilevel approach was used to model the links between alcohol use and sexual behavior among first-year college students, using up to 14 days of data for each person with occasions (Level 1, N = 2879 days) nested within people (Level 2, N = 218 people; 51.4% male). Between-persons (Level 2) effects were gender, relationship status, person means of alcohol use, and alcohol-sex expectancies for sexual affect and sexual drive. Within-person (Level 1) effects were weekend days, number of drinks consumed, and the interaction between drinks consumed and alcohol-sex expectancies. Independent of average alcohol use, consuming more drinks on a given day was associated with a greater likelihood of oral sex and with experiencing more positive consequences of sex that day. Significant Alcohol Use × Alcohol-Sex Expectancies interactions were found for oral sex and total sex behaviors, indicating that individuals with more positive expectancies were more likely to have sex after drinking. The negative association between drinks and condom use was at a trend level of significance. Results support the potential for promoting sexual health by focusing on cross-behavior expectancies among late adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and cognitive factors influencing substance use and sexual risk for HIV infection among gay and bisexual men.

Substance use reliably predicts sexual risk behavior, and sensation-seeking personality characteristics have been found to covary with these associations. In a study of 289 gay and bisexual men attending a large gay pride event, the authors examined the role of substance use sexual outcome expectancies in explaining associations between sensation seeking, substance use, and risky sex. Consistent with previous research, alcohol and other drugs were associated with sexual behavior. However, path analyses showed that sensation seeking accounted for variance in sexual behavior over and above substance use before sex and that sensation seeking predicted substance use expectancies that in turn predicted substance use before sex. It was concluded that altering substance use outcome expectancies may be an important strategy for HIV risk reduction for individuals high in sensation seeking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)